Warlock Apprentice

Chapter 1303: Section 1304: Contained Fire

“`

Suise was startled and looked at Angel with confusion. He had been convinced that Angel was just being stubborn, but now Angel was very decisively saying it was a Magic Pattern? Could it be that he had made a mistake before?

While Suise was doubtful, Angel picked up the suitcase and pointed to the “bearing corner” he had mentioned repeatedly before.

“The pattern composed of these stitches is indeed a bearing corner.”

“If this is the bearing corner, where is the Magic Pattern? The outer shell of this suitcase is clearly as smooth as new,” White Bear queried with confusion.

“Yes, there is no Magic Pattern on the outer shell of the case, and that’s because… the Magic Pattern is not on the outside but on the inner wall of the suitcase, which we can’t see,” Angel explained. Following that, his finger emitted a faint glow, creating several connected lines of light on the outer wall of the suitcase.

...
This was a kind of Illusion Technique used for leaving an afterimage, an application of the Basic Illusion Technique.

“You can try touching along these lines of light with your fingers.”

As Angel’s voice faded, Suise was the first to take the suitcase and trace his fingers over the light lines. When he carefully felt them, he distinctly noticed a difference in touch between the areas with the light marks and those without.

“The light marks I’ve drawn represent the raised Patterns on the inner wall of the suitcase,” Angel continued, adding a few strokes to the pattern of lights: “Take a closer look now, what is this?”

Originally just a few scattered lines of light, but as they connected with the added marks, a corner of a Magic Pattern, which was very familiar to everyone, appeared.

“Fire?” Sanders murmured softly.

Angel nodded, “That’s right, the significance of this corner of the Magic Pattern represents fire.”

Suise, following Angel’s recent additions, touched the marks again, growing more solemn with each touch. Eventually, he let out a deep sigh, his expression complex as he said, “You’re right, there is indeed a Magic Pattern engraved on the inside.”

Angel disregarded Suise’s subtle tone and continued, “The reason for the bearing corner on the outside is to extend the effect of the Magic Pattern to the outer shell, preventing you from seeing through to its inner wall.”

“I observed it carefully, the Magic Pattern almost covers the entire inside of the suitcase. The Magic Pattern extends to the zipper as well. This implies that opening the zipper would inevitably damage the interior Magic Pattern.”

What consequences would there be if a permanent Magic Pattern was damaged? If it was a non-aggressive Magic Pattern, that would be fine; but if it were a powerful offensive Magic Pattern, then the outcome could be dire.

The ashen hue of Suise’s complexion confirmed the truth in Angel’s words.

“What is the Magic Pattern inside?” White Bear asked.

“To ascertain the specific Magic Pattern will require confirmation. However, since it prevents prying, I estimate there may be a Magic Pattern that shields energy. Normally such a Pattern wouldn’t have ‘fire’ as one of its elements,” Angel said, frowning slightly, “My guess is that it might be a compound Magic Pattern, meaning there might be a Magical Energy Array inside.”

The effects of a Magical Energy Array were far more intense than a single Magic Pattern! Suise now understood that if he had opened the suitcase recklessly just now, he would likely have triggered a violent release of energy from the Magical Energy Array inside!

With Suise’s abilities, he might not get injured, but the suitcase would surely be destroyed!

A sense of relief grew in Suise’s heart; he was fortunate that Angel was proficient in Magic Patterns and had immediately noticed something amiss. Otherwise, if he had heedlessly opened the suitcase, it would certainly have exploded into fragments, with nothing left inside.

“This is probably Rolando’s contingency plan, in case the suitcase was discovered by us,” White Bear concluded after understanding the mechanism.

“Whether it’s Rolando’s or not can’t be completely confirmed. However, we can be sure now that there’s likely to be no world inside and no bizarre creatures either,” Angel stated indifferently. To prevent anyone from discovering the contents of the suitcase, a self-destructive Magic Pattern had been set, indicating that whatever was inside was definitely not a creature. Perhaps, it was a very important clue; otherwise, why would there be such determination to destroy the suitcase?

Suise asked, “Is there a way to open the case without touching the Magic Pattern?”

Angel responded, “Yes, but we would need to reverse engineer the Magic Pattern inside and find the core point.”

The only one present capable of reverse engineering the Magic Pattern was Angel. Suise turned to Angel, his request on the tip of his tongue, yet unsure how to express it.

Last time, Suise had asked Angel to help reverse engineer the ‘Blood Origin Backtracking’ Magical Energy Array on the Crimson Authority. That was based on a natural advantage of strength over weakness.

Now, Angel’s strength was not to be underestimated, and the power of the Illusion Demon was sufficient to suppress a territory. In such circumstances, Suise found it hard to order Angel around without the necessary confidence, especially since the recent troubles at Pat Manor had been caused by Eulica.

After much hesitation, Suise finally spoke, “Could you possibly help with reverse engineering the Magic Pattern?”

“If there’s indeed a clue from Rolando inside, I owe you two favors. Even if there isn’t, it still counts as one,” he offered.

Favors cannot easily be quantified; what Suise meant was that he would unconditionally help Angel twice within his means.

“`

Suise, as a highly regarded True Knowledge seed, indeed carried a lot of weight with his two favors.

Angel took a deep look at Suise and nodded, “Okay.”

For Angel, he needed to find Rolando and, through Crimson Authority, remove the Mysterious Energy entrenched within the servants’ bodies, allowing them to enter the Wilderness of Dreams.

Therefore, even without Suise asking, he would have traced the Magic Pattern backward.

Without delay, Angel prepared to return and deduce the pattern. As they were leaving, Angel’s gaze caught a glimpse of Fulington on the other side… Unbeknownst to them, Fulington’s complexion had turned purplish, his skin covered with a thin layer of white frost, no longer breathing.

Perhaps from Fulington’s point of view, he had merely made a transaction, which seemed innocent enough, and facing a transaction proposed proactively by a Transcendent, he, as an ordinary person, found it difficult to refuse.

Yet this suitcase might very well be one of the sources of the calamity that struck Pat Manor. Even if Angel could understand Fulington’s position, who could understand those innocent servants who suffered from the misfortune?

They left, leaving behind Fulington’s corpse, accompanied only by the lone tree amid ice and snow.

…

After returning to Pat Manor, Angel immediately began to study the Magic Pattern on the inner wall of the suitcase.

However, suspecting that the suitcase might be related to Eulica’s madness, using it within the manor might have a greater impact on Eulica, so Angel eventually went to the Gravity Garden to trace the Magic Pattern backward.

Before reversing the pattern, the first task was to determine what this Magic Pattern was.

Angel extended his finger and started to slowly trace the outline of the raised Patterns on the inner wall of the suitcase.

While Angel was retracing the Magic Pattern, Suise and the others gathered in the outer hall, quietly waiting for the result. So far, they had not found Rolando, but the Transcendent who traded with Fulington was very likely Rolando or, at least, closely connected to him.

Suise thought to himself: To find Rolando, hidden behind layers of dark curtains, they might start with that suitcase.

Meanwhile, White Bear took out a short staff, silently communicating with the River of Fate.

Soon, White Bear opened his eyes, his expression somber, having gained little once again.

Fate whispered in his ear, but the words were indecipherable with White Bear’s power. He longed for Dororo—for him, the whispers of Fate were clear and straightforward, offering correct answers without the need for laborious interpretation.

Despite this, White Bear vaguely sensed that the discovered suitcase was like the sole spark in the dark chaos.

If they could only open the suitcase, perhaps some of the perplexing issues would be resolved.

All the answers seemed to revolve around the suitcase, with both Suise and White Bear eagerly anticipating them.

The wall clock’s hands made several rounds, and on the third day’s morning, Angel and Sanders finally emerged from the Gravity Garden.

Everyone sat around the hall, and after Angel took his seat, he placed the suitcase on the table.

Now the suitcase was entirely transformed, its shell covered with dense, luminous traces. Suise recognized that these traces represented the Magic Pattern from the inner wall; he could even decipher the simple meanings of several isolated pattern sections, but it would take a professional to interpret the complex combination of these various patterns.

“This is the Magic Pattern from the inner wall, which I’ve drawn onto the suitcase,” Angel pointed at the luminous traces, “Just as I anticipated, it is indeed a Magical Energy Array containing three different types of Magic Patterns.”

Angel snapped his fingers, and a part of the intricate luminous traces emitted a pale blue glow: “The blue luminous traces represent the Sealing Energy Magic Pattern.”

Following that, some traces glowed green: “The green traces are the Sealing Spirit Magic Pattern.”

The Sealing Energy Magic Pattern and Sealing Spirit Magic Pattern differ by only one word, and their pattern meanings are almost identical, yet the effects they produce are entirely different.

The Sealing Energy Magic Pattern is to block all energy probing, while the Sealing Spirit Magic Pattern is to prevent energy leakage.

These two patterns are so similar, with many identical patterns also carved together; they are the nightmare for many Runeology apprentices. When Angel used to study the Samsara Overture to prevent the escape of the undead, he had drawn the Sealing Spirit Magic Pattern in his laboratory. Having drawn them before, he found it quite easy to distinguish.

“Beyond the green and blue light, the remaining white traces are high-level Incineration Runes and some other Patterns that acted as intermediaries for the three types,” Angel pointed to the remaining white luminous traces, “These three Magic Patterns combined together, and the name of their Magical Energy Array, is called ‘Contained Fire’.”